He's a public figure, he's under more scrutiny than an average Joe. I view it as similar to being a politician, you've chosen a career in the public light and with that comes a higher standard. Cross that line and the public will demand action.

Bill Clinton nearly lost his job over a non-felony, non-conviction.

I'm sure these guys probably all have wording in their contracts that have to deal with this exact thing (i.e. You're a public figure, so don't do anything incredibly stupid, or we have every right to fire you).

Some companies would fire you. I would figure that a non-tenured professor who got charges for domestic violence or a DUI could be fired. Soldiers can get kicked out of the military for these issues. Even counselors/ therapists could lose their job at agencies and hospitals for things like this. We could argue that a lapse in judgment like this does not warrant losing your job because it does not technically affect how well you do it but, why should a computer programmer be any different than a college professor, soldier, or counselor/ therapist? We should all be held to higher standards. It's just that, if you do good work at your job, it's easy to look away from holding people to a higher standard.

It's always "okay." The company that hires the employee can choose to fire an employee for any reason. When there are contracts, those contracts specify those reasons, so employees should be aware of their rights and responsibilities. High profile employees are especially susceptible to firing because of embarrassment to the company. The company has no responsibility to keep an employee that jeopardizes their business. There have been several cases of CEOs in the tech sector who have stepped down because of sexist behavior in the work place. No convictions or even charges. Donald Sterling didnt break any laws, but he lost his NBA team because his conduct jeopardized the whole NBA not just the Clippers. These cases may have taken more time than the Rice firing, but they are still gone. Your example of a low level employee and a DUI isn't the same because unless they killed someone or they'd had multiple DUIs, the DUI wouldn't cast the company in a bad light. Bad PR is a justifiable cause for firing.

And considering a very high up person at my ex-employer recently got sacked because he couldn't keep it in his pants (or at least be discreet about it) this isn't just a famous-people thing either.

In our hyper 24 hour news cycle where NOTHING goes unnoticed anymore, and the social media platform to speak out and shame companies in hours, optics matter, period. Image is everything.

It's why teens need to understand the stupid stuff they do these days, it'll still be there on Google when they're 40 and looking for a job.

^Hit the nail on the head. Someone said it earlier and I want to echo the sentiment that bringing shame/ embarrassment to your employer can be grounds for dismissal in many circumstances.

Okay y'all, PrettyBoy is crazy lol.

We stress to PNMS that image matters, scrub your profiles down, make everything private, if it's spring rush be careful in the fall not get a "bad" reputation.

If we stress this to 18 yr old freshmenand hold them accountable for their "image" It's ridiculous to think image doesn't matter to companies or anyone who has money on the line.

Lmao!